Test Vendor Certifications

Quality Assurance and Test Professionals need to update and maintain their technical skills on a regular basis. With ever-changing technologies, methodologies, and platforms, it is difficult to choose a "specialty." One option is to become certified in a particular vendor test tool. Is this certification worth your time? What types of certifications should testers receive?

As Quality Assurance and Test Professionals, our goal is to make sure that we are of constant value to our organization. Technologies and platforms such as XML/SOAP, .NET, and J2EE force us to continually change with the times and keep our skills current. In these constantly changing environments, how can testers keep up? What skills do we really need to "prove our worth?" The objective of this article is to explore whether test vendor certifications are actually worth your time, money, and effort.

What Does it Mean to be "Certified"? The Quality Assurance Institute (QAI) has it. The American Society for Quality (ASQ) has it. So do Microsoft, Red Hat, Sun, IBM, Citrix, and Cisco. Certification means that you have taken and passed an exam (or several exams) that demonstrate your proficiency in a particular vendor's product and/or methodology. Certification shows your employer (or potential employer) that you have the knowledge to work with a particular vendor's hardware or software. But, what does it really mean to receive certification from a test tool vendor?

The Certification Process Let's examine what processes are in place for the commercial software vendors. One must first research what is involved in actually getting certified in the vendor's product. Some vendors offer certification through a correspondence course. This means that you can take their "test" at your own pace, and send in the results.

In the mid to late 1990s I received a test tool certification from a commercial vendor through this method. The test was very trivial, at best. It asked me questions about where certain things were in the application rather than how to implement the tool. It resembled a "Where's Waldo" kind of certification rather than anything meaningful. The test was easy, and really did not challenge me. In addition, the certification did not carry any influence with the companies who were looking to hire test engineers.

Traditional certifications started out as multiple-choice tests, which did not vary from each test taker. This allowed those who are great test takers to get certified without any real-world experience with the product.

In order for their certifications to carry any weight, all test tool vendors should follow the same process as the major companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Novell, Red Hat, as well as organizations like the Quality Assurance Institute and the Association for Software Quality. The test should be structured in a way that not just anyone can pass it. The test should also be administered at a regional testing facility. In addition, the test should reflect a person's real work experience with the software. For example, the major vendor's above, now offer what are known as adaptive tests. An adaptive test begins by giving you a question with a moderate level of difficulty. Depending on your answers, the questions will get either more difficult or less difficult. The test ends when the system concludes that you have answered enough questions with sufficient ability to pass. However, the exam will also end if too many easy questions are presented. In other words, the program either approves or disapproves of your ability to pass the test or answer any more questions in the exam.

Case study exam questions would also enhance the test. Microsoft offers case-study questions in their latest certification exams. This is used as a means to simulate as accurately as possible what real-world users do on the job. Case study questions would allow test vendors to increase the level of difficulty in their exams, as well as test analytical skills as they relate to the implementation of the test tool.

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About the author

Clinton A. Sprauve

A senior product specialist for Silk Testing Solutions at Micro Focus, Clinton Sprauve has more than fifteen years of experience in the software quality assurance industry. Previously he was the senior product marketing manager for Silk Testing Solutions at Borland Software and Segue Software, and served as a senior technical sales engineer for both companies. Clint also has been an independent consultant specializing in test management and test automation.